Time for a Mid-August Check-In

Whew! It’s been a whirlwind month so far! LOTS happening on the Acting and Design fronts. Here are the highlights:

Acting

It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to perform with a group other than Theatre Unleashed, but I’m positively ecstatic to announce that I’m going to be a part of a big event this Fall. More specifically, The Big Event with Gangbusters Theatre Company. I’m going to be playing the role of Dallas Homicide Detective Richard “Dick” Simms in Christian Levatino’s Sunny Afternoon, a drama about the 48 hours Lee Harvey Oswald was in the custody of the Dallas Police Department after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It’s a spectacular role in a superb script. I can’t wait to get started!

I had the pleasure of collaborating with Christian last year when he expressed interest in being a part of The Boys of Spring and Fall at Short+Sweet Hollywood. If you check out the video embedded on the show page, that’s him playing Barry Harrison.

Also on the acting front, I’ve been trying to get into as many SAG-AFTRA Foundation events as possible. They’re a wealth of invaluable connections and information. On top of that, the recent success of Get a Clue and the excitement around creating Operation: Tetherball has inspired me to dust off a couple short scripts I’ve been wanting to shoot for my demo reel. So now I’m coordinating a bunch of short film shoots of my own this month. Looking forward to getting these shot and up online!

Speaking of Nineteen Years Later, our friend Carey Matthews (who is stepping into the role of red-headed Ron Weasley in this Fringe Encore), shared an exciting promo video for the show online this past weekend, and it not only features details about the Fringe run but highlights The Hobgoblin Playhouse. I’ve even got a brief cameo, which is quite unexpected as I wasn’t supposed to be in the booth running the show that day. Still, it’s a hoot:

Me

I don’t talk about this stuff too much, but I wanted to share a health milestone. On July 2nd, I started on the Keto diet. I was 272.9 pounds. Today, barely six weeks later, I’m under 250 pounds for the first time in almost a decade. That’s a HUGE achievement, considering I was close to 280 at some points during Fringe this year.

Maybe I’ll go into more detail in the future, but I just want to say real quick that maintaining a Ketogenic diet has been absolutely game-changing for me, and I’ve seen immediate results. Also, I’m absolutely certain that at the rate I’m going, I’ll hit my target weight of 210 pounds before the end of the year.

Also, a second note – I’ve gone through and updated my entire website. New credits, new portfolio photos, new video, etc. Have a look around!

What’s Cool This Week

You know what I never realized angry politically-charged anti-establishment rap/metal music needed? A horn section. Enter Brass Against the Machine. These guys will blow your eardrums out with sheer awesomeness. I was listening to them non-stop while preparing for my Sunny Afternoon audition and subsequent callbacks, and they got me right in the mood. Check ’em out and let me know what you think!